Page 70 of The Ghost of Rage's War

“Someone shore up Bullock’s gap!” Ramirez ordered into the radio.

“On our way,” Detective Chris Whitman replied.

Ramirez kept firing, but he was tired. How many more were there? Two loud explosions made Ramirez jump, and he flinched and covered his head as rubble crashed around him. What the hell had just happened?

“What the hell was that?” Ramirez yelled.

“Rocket launcher. That was a surface-to-air missile,” Nando screamed.

“Shit. Everyone, call in,” Ramirez cried even as he and Ben laid down more fire.

As the reports flooded in, his heart sank. He had forty fit officers. Fifty-eight of his men were either dead or injured.

“This is Ramirez, Horton. I need backup. I’m down to forty men. We can’t hold this,” Ramirez called in.

“Unwanted Bastards coming your way,” Horton replied a few moments later.

“Fall back to the bottle neck. We’ll hold them there,” Ramirez ordered. He threw some smoke bombs and laid down firing cover as his people ran for the bottle neck they’d planned. This was their last stand. If they lost this, the Fangs could and would enter the city.

Dan Horton

He glanced around as everyone spoke on radios. Running a hand over his face, he wished he were with his colleagues.

Ramirez’s last call for help had chilled his bones. Fifty-eight of his colleagues were headed for the hospital. That frightened him. In front of him was a list of men. He looked up as his hospital radio crackled.

“Detective Whitman, alive, Officer Dean Parks, dead, Officer Sally Kenner alive, Sergeant Tim Sharp, alive, Lieutenant Gary Hendrick dead,” a nurse from the hospital reported.

Horton marked them on his list and then updated the white board behind him. So far, nineteen police officers had been killed. Thirty-nine were injured or in critical condition.

He hoped the President of the United States was watching and fuckin’ choking on his breakfast Cherrios. Asshole.

Horton was on edge, his old partner, Bobby Lucas, was out there on the front line. And he wasn’t there to back him up. Being a cripple sucked.

Ramirez

They’d not left a single person behind, and he wasgrateful for that, but the Fangs kept coming. RCPD were at their final barricade now, their dead and injured were gone. This was it. The last stand. Ramirez didn’t even have time to wonder how the rest of the city was faring. Smoke was thick across his zone, and he reckoned that was the same throughout the city. If he failed here, his allies would be attacked from the rear, as these fuckers would flood the city.

“We stand or fall here,” he said to Ben.

“Nice knowing you,” Ben commented and got ready.

The Fangs began their push, and once again, they opened fire. They had made this especially difficult to breach as he’d had a feeling they’d need it. His remaining officers were in two buildings either side of the road, and Ramirez, Ben, Nando, and Lucas all stood behind a barricade of police cars. They were parked three deep and had blocked the street completely.

“Wish I was with you,” Ramirez’s radio crackled, and Horton’s voice came over the line.

“We know, bud,” Lucas replied, but Horton didn’t hear. Bullets began flying back and forth as RCPD stood, determined to stop this wave of assholes.

Minutes ticked past, and Ramirez’s radio remained silent. Nobody bothered to call in injuries or deaths to him. There wasn’t time. Their people had been cut in half, and if you could hold a gun and fire, then you were expected to.

They couldn’t allow Venomous Fangs to take the city because, if they succeeded, what next?Pennington County? The state? No. Today, Fury and his villainy would be stopped. These assholes had taken Justin Goldberg from them; a good guy, an honest man. They’d left his son an orphan.

Ramirez and the RCPD intended to get justice. Not just for Goldberg but for their fallen brothers and sisters. They’d given their lives to stop an evil tyrant, and their sacrifices wouldn’t be in vain.

Ramirez squared his shoulders; it didn’t matter how tired he was. He had sworn to protect the innocent, and he would. Come hell or high water.

A roar of pipes grew in the distance. Back-up was coming. RCPD just needed to hold on.

Chapter Seventeen –

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